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Ethics in Research & Publication

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DOI: 10.47211/book.2020.9788194680413

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 Ethics
in
Research
&
Publication
Dr. Aamarpali Roy
Dr. Laxmi Rana

1
Ethics in Research & Publication

Dr. Aamarpali Roy

Ph. D. in Chemical Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev Uuniversity, Amritsar, Punjab, India.

Dr. Laxmi Rana

Ph. D. in Nursing from Mangalore University, Mangalore, Karnataka, India.

“978-81-946804-1-3”

DOI: http://doi.org/10.472111/book.2020.9788194680413

Published by Ana Publishing Pvt. Ltd.

2
Preface
In my career spanning almost two decades, I have travelled throughout India. I have seen
different types of mentalities, ideologies and ways of life. I have met so many different types
of people. It‟s been a great life. And, in between I have seen the importance of ethics growing
in every walk of life. I read a lot of books and journal articles on the topic. Most of these
books focused on what are ethics and why we need to follow it. So I thought of writing a
book on the same discipline that would tell the readers about what we lose when we do not
follow ethics. Since, I am a researcher, I wanted to establish in this book, the importance of
ethics in research and publications. I wanted my readers to feel motivated for following ethics
in their research and publication life.
At the initial phase, I would like to request the readers to treat this book as a conversation
between us. I am just hoping that it becomes a never ending conversation.
And, before I end, a special thanks to my mother Ms. Sneh Lata and my co-author, Dr. Laxmi
Rana.
Best regards,
Dr. Aamarpali Roy
2020-09-5
Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

3
Preface
Research is life as it brings individual to a new world with new invention which results in
generation of new facts. I, the co- author of the intended book, being an educationist have
ample opportunities to carry out and involve in various research activities directly as
researcher or indirectly as consultant in the field of health sciences. Research without
publication is a waste. If we look three decades back it is observed that publication of
research reports were rare due to poor publication facilities or ignorance regarding
publication process and scarcity of publishing agencies. However, it is seen that number of
research publications are increasing gradually due to academic or institutional influence and
self-motivation for recognition. But poor knowledge and understanding of the ethics related
to research process and publication leads to increased misconducts in research publication by
the investigators. Basic concepts regarding ethics, research and publication as well as
understanding of their interrelationship are important parameters to enhance their correct
applications. We have tried to present the content in simpler ways so that it becomes easy to
analyse the concepts and its application. This book has taken utmost care to facilitate the
readers to explain the information which can help in strengthening the publication of reports.
Thus quality of research and publication can be improved and obstacles related can be
prevented, ultimately resulting in scientific development.
Lastly, I am thankful to Dr. Aamarpali Roy, the author of the book for giving me opportunity
to share and contribute my thoughts while writing this book.
With regards,
Dr. Laxmi Rana
2020-08-24
Balasore, Odisha, India.

4
Contents

What is Research? 6
What is Publication? 11
What is Ethics? 16
Relation between Research, Publication & Ethics 20
Areas of Application of Ethics in Research 25
Areas of Application of Ethics in Publication 29
Difficulties in Following Ethics in Research and Publications 34

5
 What is Research?
Snapshot
This chapter deals with the evolution of research, the process of changing of its
characteristics and thereby its definitions with the passage of time. It highlights how in
different definitions of research, different characteristics have been given importance by the
definition framers. It speaks about how different types of the word „research” can be
framed.

The meaning of the word „research‟ has changed from time to time. Etymologists tell us that
the word „research‟ comes from the French word „cerchier‟ which means “to search, with re-
expressive intensive forces‟.
There was a time when research meant the process of finding the answers of questions. This
was a pre-historic phase of human history. Man used to live in the jungles. He got food by
hunting animals. The concept of family did not exist at that time. There were no medicines.
Man was living an isolated life. There was no connection between men living in different
parts of the world. In fact, there was very less connection between men living in close
proximity to each other. It would not be wrong to say that the concepts of family, state and
society did not exist at that time. It did not exist because there was no such need. Man was
living a life which was not far away from the lives of other animals surviving in the planet at
that time. This was the phase when man was trying to find out the answers of some basic
questions that even children know today. Man had to find out which animals were more
dangerous, whether fire can burn out everything or not, how to get rid of some basic physical
ailments, if there was any other method of finding food other than plucking fruits from trees
and hunting animals. There were millions and millions of such everyday questions that arose
from time to time and man had to find out the answers of those questions. He needed these
answers for his survival. There was no question of using these answers or testing them for
their future usability. He needed these answers for his immediate survival. The process by
which man would find out the answers was not important. If man wanted to know whether
fire was hot or not, he could know it by putting his finger into it or by asking a fortune teller.
But that was not important. What was primarily important was that man got an answer. And,
the answer had to be reliable and relevant. This was the story of the early periods of human
history.

6
The period that followed was the medieval period. It was a very important period in the
history of the human civilization. This was the period which saw the slow growth of the
human civilization. There was some sort of connectivity between men staying in different
parts of the world. This was mainly because of the growing trade links. Still then, survival
was a very big challenge in man‟s life, may be not as big as it was in the ancient period, but it
was a very big challenge. But there was advancement, too. Now, whatever man wanted to do,
there were options. Say, for food man was not dependent on plucking fruits from trees and
hunting animals only. Of course, those options were there. But man was also gradually
learning the art and science of agriculture. Man was also beginning to master the seas and
oceans. So trade links were being set up between different parts of the world. There was some
sort of a transition from the ancient age to the period of science and scientific developments.
So this was the phase of contrasts and differences. This was the period when everything
survived and flourished... the good as well as the bad, the old as well as the new, the
knowledgeable as well as the fools, the superstitions as well as science. It was during this
phase that the Churches, the Mosques and the Temples were ruling the society. Nobody had
the power to go against them. Not even the emperors, the kings, the nawabs and the sultans.
At the same time mankind experienced the growth and developments of great thinkers,
writers and scientists like Aristotle, Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci, Kepler, Roger Bacon,
Galileo, Copernicus, Montessori, Rosseau and the list can always go on. This was the era that
experienced a lot of conflicts and collisions. The Churches, the Mosques and the Temples
were still giving sermons. These were being accepted by some. But this was also the stage of
history when probably for the first time that sermon from various religious centres and their
heads were also getting dejected by some. Science was slowly setting into human lives and
that was going to be a friendship for the times to come, the friendship between science and
the humans. Thus, this period was the period of fights between the old and the new, the
scientific and the superstitious, the traditional and the modern. It was the interim period when
man had a lot of questions. The answers were being provided by the state heads, by the
religious communities and by those from the world of science. Now the primary task for man
was not just to find out the answers of questions. His research effort was focussed for the first
time in history to find out the right answer or the best answer. Thus, research became a
decisional activity. Unlike the ancient period, the characteristics of the research changed from
basic or fundamental research to applied research in the medieval period. Now research was
no more defined as the process of finding answers of questions. It was defined as the process
of finding the right or most suitable answers of questions.

7
What followed this period was an even more interesting phase of man‟s life. It is the modern
era. The Church, the Mosques and the Temples lost their importance. Man felt that they were
not very trustworthy. Science became the new way of life, the new essence of life. Everything
was done following scientific methods and principles. Even people in the remotest corners of
the world were not free from these phenomena. „Development‟ became the key word of the
civilization. „Religion‟ lost its importance. It was the era when modern India‟s greatest
thinker, Swami Vivekananda spoke about his vision of a modern and science oriented
resilient India in the World Religion Congress held in Chicago, U.S.A. in 1893 that increased
India‟s acceptance in the west manifold. It was not that „development‟ was not the buzz word
in the other ages. It always was. But in the modern era the meaning and connotations of the
word changed completely. There was a period when man used to walk and run bare footed.
He started taming wild animals and using their physical power to speed up the civilization.
But in the modern era animal power was rejected. In came the time of motor engines. They
increased the speed of the human civilization by more than four times. The medium of
developments changed altogether. There was mechanization everywhere. It was the period
when man had to find out the best answers as well as discover new ways. This was the period
which saw a mixed research approach being employed. There was equal focus on applied and
basic research. And, what was even more important is that the way the answers of questions
were being found out through a scientific and well defined process. Thus, research came to be
defined as the process of finding answers of questions depending on scientific methods.
Research was no more dependent on the whims of the researcher. At every possible stage it
was backed by logic, by reasoning. Due to commercial reasons there were so many
requirements for trained human resources for research and implementation of the new ideas
developed through research, that research started to be taught formally in institutes and
universities.
Thus, some new aspects of research have developed in the modern era. Research is something
that has changed itself from time to time. It is not static. It is dynamic, constantly changeable.
It is based on scientific principles. It is measurable. It is countable. More importantly, today it
is believed worldwide that research is teachable. So researchers can be produced and
developed. They can be nurtured and grown. Research helps to choose the best answer,
sometimes the most viable or profitable answer. Thus, there is a commercial side to research.
It is pursued with the objective of being economically beneficial and not just inflames the
volume of knowledge on any particular discipline.

8
Over the periods of time different people have defined research in different ways. If these
different definitions of research can be studied and analysed, it can be seen that different
definition framers have given importance to different aspects of research.
Research has survived so many millenniums because it is not static. It can change itself from
time to time. Man had different types of needs in different phases of human history and
research has changed herself and got fit accordingly. World famous Bengali novelist,
Shankar, once remarked that anything that does not move forward is actually moving
backward. Research has moved forward. So it never moved backward. It is a futuristic
process in the sense that it aims to create a tomorrow that will be better than other tomorrows
that have ever come to this earth.
Australian universities define research as the creation of new knowledge and/ or the use of
existing knowledge in a new and creative way so as to generate new concepts, methodologies
and understandings.1 Thus, this definition highlights the purposes of research and the two
broad types of research i.e. basic research (denoted by „new knowledge‟) and applied
research (denoted by „existing knowledge‟).
According to the American sociologist Earl Robert Babbie, “Research is a systematic enquiry
to describe, explain, predict, and control the observed phenomenon. Research involves
inductive and deductive methods.”2 Here, the definition maker has emphasized on the
scientific methodology of research. He is talking about the systematic procedure of research
more than anything else.
The definition of research followed in Hampshire College, U.K. says that research is a
process of systematic inquiry, that entails collection of data; documentation of critical
information; and analysis and interpretation of that data/ information, in accordance with
suitable methodologies set by specific professional fields and academic disciplines.3 This
definition has been made by giving more importance to the linking of research to the existing
norms, rules and regulations. It says that research is a scientific process and has to be pursued
following the rules and not the whims and fancies of the researcher.
The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines research as „a careful or diligent search‟, „a
studious enquiry or examination‟ and „the collecting of information about a particular
subject‟.4 This is a single effort to define research from a multitude of standpoints like its
processes and purposes.
Waltz and Bansell (1981) defined research as a systematic, formal and rigorous and precise
process employed to gain solutions to problems or to discover and interpret new facts and
relationships.5 This definition aimed to highlight the innovative aspects of research.

9
According to Kothari (2006) research is a pursuit of trust with the help of study, observation,
comparison and experiment, the search for knowledge through objective and systematic
method of finding solutions to a problem.5 Although it has not been mentioned specifically,
this definition aims to make the case of applied research more prominent by usage of words
like „systematic method of finding solutions to a problem‟.
Payton (1979) said that research is the process of looking for a specific question in an
organized, objective, reliable way.5 In this definition, the definition maker focussed on the
type of research pursued commonly in the medieval age i.e. finding the answers of questions
but by following a certain type of logic backed way only.
Kerlinger (1873) defined research as a systematic, controlled, empirical and critical
investigation of hypothetical propositions about the presumed relations among natural
phenomena.5 Here, the researcher gave importance to the nature of research while framing the
definition.
Thus, from what has been stated above it is understood that there cannot be one particular
definition of the word „research‟. Experts and opinion makers have framed different types of
definitions of research in various ages by giving importance to different sets of feature/ s of
it. Research is a relative activity and so one universal definition of it cannot be framed.

References
1. https://researchwhisperer.org/2012/09/18/what-is-research/ (accessed on 3 August,
2020).
2. https://www.questionpro.com/blog/what-is-research/ (accessed on 3 August, 2020).
3. https://www.hampshire.edu/dof/what-is-research (accessed on 3 August, 2020).
4. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/research (accessed on 3 August, 2020).
5. http://learningtz.blogspot.com/2017/03/meaning-of-research-according-
to.html#:~:text=Research%20is%20a%20systematic%2C%20formal,
According%20to%20Kothari%20(2006). (Accessed on 3 August, 2020).

10
 What is Publication?
Snapshot
This chapter commences with the changing nature of publications. It tells us about the
written publications and the reasons for the success of oral publications. Then it speaks
about the importance of Gutenberg in the history of printing and publications, how that
changed the world and made it a profitable filed of business. It finally ends with the recent
issues in this field.

According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, the word „publication‟ means „the act or
process of publishing‟ or „a published work‟.1
Just like the word „research‟, there have been changes in the meaning and connotations of the
word „publishing‟, too. In the pre-historic ages man did not have alphabets and languages to
write. He developed certain symbols for writing. Man used to live in caves and jungles. The
cave walls were used for writing. The writings and drawings discovered in the caves of Alta
Mira in Spain acted as evidence for this. These writings and drawn pictures acted as the
world‟s first publication. What followed after this was a phase when man was consciously
putting efforts for creation of a civilization. The results were the civilizations of Egypt, Indus
Valley and Sumeria. The Egyptian civilization is the earliest civilization of the world. There
ancient man discovered a way of preparing paper like things on which it was possible to
write. This was prepared from long grass like shrubs and they came to be known as papyrus.
For ages these papyrus were used for writing. At that time this was the only way of
publication known to man. If compared with today‟s publications, it is very difficult to even
imagine the publications of those periods. The publications of those periods were one piece
publications only. So it could be made available to limited number of public. In many cases
such ancient publications had to be preserved for generations. However, the history of
publication in India aimed at solving these problems. So, most of the publications in ancient
India were oral. They were not preserved as they were not touchable. In fact, it would be right
to say that they were not preserved in a manner in which touchable written publications were
preserved. These oral publications were passed on from one generation to the other. These
constituted of the various mantras, hymns, poetries and stories. They could be made available
to bigger sections of the public within a short period of time as they were oral. Thus, they
became more popular and useable than the old written publications of ancient Egypt. This
opened a new window in the history of publications and India became responsible for that.
11
A similar trend could be seen in the medieval ages, too. In the Greek and Roman
civilizations, there were stories, principles, hymns passed on orally from one generation to
the next. Aesop‟s fables which were developed during this period by a slave named Aesop
followed the same path. These were one of the most widely accepted series of publications of
that period. They were oral and passed from one generation to the next. The teachings of
great teachers, writers and scholars like Aristotle, Socrates, Plato and Kepler were orally
made available to the public. For generations there was no effort from the part of man to
present these in a written format. Written publications had some inherent disadvantages. First
of all, there was no mechanization. The entire writing had to be done manually. So it was a
slow and energy sucking process. Secondly, due to the absence of mechanization, only few
copies of the publication could be made available to the common public. And, last but by no
means the least, it was very difficult for the litterateurs of that period to preserve all these
publications. So besides written publications, oral publications occupied a significant place in
the world of publications. However, the picture changed with the advent of mechanization.
This all started since 1439 with the hands of Johannes Gutenberg, a German goldsmith. He
was the man who introduced printing in Europe and thus came to be counted as one of the
significant figures of the European Renaissance. This phenomenon ensured mechanization in
printing, and thereby in publications. As a result of such mechanization, cost of printing came
down. Less time and energy was required for printing. Also more copies of the publication
could be produced and made available to the common public for reading purpose. Thus,
publications became easily accessible. Knowledge could be comfortably shared with a lot
many more people within a shorter period of time. Thus, the time saved could be invested for
further development and circulation of more publications. This was a revolution in the world
of publication.
Gutenberg was involved in a metal mirror making business which failed miserably. His
financial position was precarious at that time. He promised his investors to share something
special with them. It was speculated in the later periods that this secret was nothing but the art
of printing through movable types. Till 1444, Gutenberg lived in Strasbourg. It is believed by
historians that in 1440 he publicized the secret of printing. It was based on his research,
named Aventur and Kunst, meaning „enterprise and art‟. After this there was a gap of four
years. In 1448, Gutenberg took a loan from his brother-in-law, Arnold Gelthius. He probably
had taken that loan for the building of a printing press. By this date, he was familiar with
intaglio printing. It is claimed by historians that he had worked on copper engravings with an
artist.2

12
By 1450, the press was in operation, and a German poem had been printed, possibly the first
item to be printed there. Gutenberg was able to convince the wealthy moneylender, Johann
Fust for a loan of 800 guilders. Peter Schoffer, who became Fust‟s son-in-law, also joined the
enterprise. Schoffer had worked as a scribe in Paris and was believed to have designed some
of the first typefaces. Gutenberg's workshop was set up at Hof Humbrecht, a property
belonging to a distant relative. It is not clear when Gutenberg conceived the Bible project, but
for this he borrowed another 800 guilders from Fust, and work commenced in 1452. At the
same time, the press was also printing other, more lucrative texts (possibly Latin grammars).
There is also some speculation that there may have been two presses, one for the pedestrian
texts, and one for the Bible. One of the profit-making enterprises of the new press was the
printing of thousands of indulgences for the church; documented from 1454 to 1455.3 In 1455
Gutenberg completed his 42-line Bible, known as the Gutenberg Bible. About 180 copies
were printed, most on paper and some on vellum.
The setting up of the press and the introduction of the new version of printing technology
altogether changed the future of publications.
In the recent times the world of publications has seen a problem. It is the problem of
independence of the press that presents the publications in front of the readers.
In today‟s world a free press is seen as a pillar of democracy. The „freedom‟ in most cases is
not well-defined. Some constraints arise from issues related to defamation, national security,
news blackouts, restrictions on information, information related to military crisis and so on.
Of even more concern is the growing number of threats to writers, journalists, reporters. This
is particularly evident in areas of military tension. There was a time when a press card given
to a writer, journalist or a reporter would have ensured an easy access; today it has its
limitations. In the developing countries of the third world, publication can play a vital role in
making information available to the common public. Suppression of opinion of publications
is a common issue in these countries. However, this is also seen in some of the western and
so called developed countries. In fact for major portions of the world an independent press
seems to be an unachievable goal. Contemporary writers, journalists and reporters are
intimidated, attacked and killed for being witness to political, economic and social
developments wherever they are. The freedom to collect, disseminate and publish
information and analysed data is recognized as so vital to human rights that UNESCO
established World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 1997 and began awarding an annual prize
named after Guillero Cano Isaza, a Columbian journalist and writer slayed in 1986 for
advocating harsh punishments for narcotics traffickers. With support from UNESCO several

13
NGOs monitor threats made against writers, journalists and reporters assessing the status of
press freedom around the world.
Computers and telecommunications transformed the production process of publications. They
also influenced changes in the quality of publications, but their real impact was on the
finances of the publication industry. One of the first signs of technology‟s potential for
change came in the 1930s, when Walter Morey developed the teletype setter (first
demonstrated in 1928). The machine was an improvement on the telegraph, which was
widely used by people in the publication industry and by the wire services such as Reuters
and Associated Press, to send news items in draft form to editorial offices miles away. With
the teletype setter, the impulses sent over the wire included encoded instructions to Linotype
machines. The machine could then decode the instructions and automatically prepare whole
pages ready for printing. It was therefore envisaged that the writer would have the facility for
direct input into the printing room, which would eliminate the need for retyping by a
Linotype operator and thus save both time and money. But direct input had to await the
development of sophisticated computers and computer programs, which did not materialize
until after World War II. In 1946 the first techniques of photocomposition were developed.
With this method of typesetting, the images of pages are prepared for the printer
photographically, as on a photocopier, instead of in lines of metal type.
In a modern publication house, each writer has a desktop terminal or computer i.e. a keyboard
and monitor connected to the main computer. The monitor shows the current article. While
writing, the reporter can retrieve information stored in the computer, such as any previous
articles on the same subject, which can be displayed on the screen alongside the new copy.
This split-screen technology also allows the copy editor to move copy around the screen on
special page-layout terminals until the copy fits the page. Once it is ready, a push of a button
sends the complete page to the main computer for eventual transformation into camera-ready
composition. From there, a negative image of the page is captured on film and depending on
the type of press used, typically etched onto a printing plate. By this direct-input process the
production of a page is accelerated. But the new technology can serve other production
purposes.4
Hence, to conclude the chapter it can be remarked that like research, publications have also
undergone many changes. There is a constant evolution that is common to both these fields.

14
References:
1. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/publication (accessed on 4 August,
2020).
2. Lehmann-Haupt, Hellmut (1966). Gutenberg and the Master of the Playing
Cards. New Haven: Yale University Press.
3. Kelley, Peter. "Documents that Changed the World: Gutenberg indulgence,
1454". UW Today. University of Washington. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
4. https://www.britannica.com/topic/publishing/The-19th-century-and-the-start-of-mass-
circulation (accessed on 4 August, 2020).

15
 What is Ethics?
Snapshot:
This chapter commences with the meaning of the word “ethics”. It talks about the
importance of ethics and the contributions of Raymond Baumhart, the world famous
sociologist, in research and development on ethics. Baumhart conducted a survey. He
received some responses from the respondents. Those responses were analysed here and
the contradictions of the same were mentioned. Finally the chapter ended with the
exploration of a hypothetical phenomenon like what would have happened in the world if
common people who are not very clear about the meaning of ethics, would have been
explained the meaning of it first. And, then they would have taken independent decisions
on implementation of it.

According to a dictionary, ethics is a moral principle that governs a person‟s behaviour or the
conducting of an activity. At times it is also defined as the branch of knowledge that deals
with moral principles.1 The term is derived from the Greek word „ethos‟ which can mean
custom, habit, character or disposition.
Making choices is a part of human life. This is because variety is the spice of life. Whenever
man makes a choice there are two aspects of it. Firstly, he is independent to make that choice.
And, secondly, he can always choose something new each time when he is required to make a
choice. The great Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard gave a great example. Suppose a
man is standing on the side of a cliff. Now, whether he wants to jump off from the cliff or not
is his choice. He is independent to make that choice. Now if he decides to jump off from the
cliff, he has to choose on which side. Thus, he can have a different choice each time he
decides to jump off. The demands of the situation sometimes are so that man has to change
his nature and act. Otherwise, he can keep his nature the same and compromise with the
demands of the situation. Which decision has to be taken by him depending on the situation,
is a tough decision. This is where ethics comes in. It helps man in his decision making
process, not by helping him to choose what is correct but by helping him to choose the best
option available at that time. Ethics helps man to exercise his judgements and reach a
conclusion. So ethics is basically a decision making tool. It ensures comfort and safety during
decision making. It helps man to take responsibility for his beliefs and actions and a live a life
that is his own.2

16
Ethics is a way to define what the best or ideal decision would look like. It has to be always
considered that ethics varies from man to man. According to some meeting his demands and
making money is the best ethical decision of all. According to someone else focussing on
what is or can be the most popular choice is the best ethical decision of all. There is one
aspect common to both these types of decisions. Each of these decisions may be distractions
to the ideal decision. So ethics becomes handy in such a case. It defines the best option as the
one which best achieves what is good, right and consistent with the nature of the things in
question. This is referred by experts as values, principles and purposes. Values tell us what is
good. They are the things we strive for, desire and seek to protect. Principles tell us what is
right. They outline how we may or may not achieve our values. Purpose is the reason for
being. It gives life the values and principles. Ethics is the process of questioning, discovering
and defending the values, principles and purposes. It‟s about finding out who we are and
staying true to that in the face of temptations, challenges and uncertainty. It‟s not always fun
and it‟s hardly ever easy, but if we commit to it, we set ourselves up to make decisions we
can stand by, building a life that‟s truly our own and a future we want to be a part of.
A few years ago, world famous sociologist, Raymond Baumhart asked some professionals
what ethics meant to them. He got answers like – ethics has got to do with feelings that says
what is right and what is wrong, ethics has to do with religious beliefs, being ethical means
doing what the law demands, ethics consisted of the standard of behaviour that the human
society accepts, and last but by no means the least, some also said that they did not know
what it meant exactly.
Baumhart wrote after that, that these interactions proved to him that it is very difficult to
come up with one definition of ethics as it means different things to different individuals. He
also came to the conclusion that the views of many people cannot be considered while
framing a definition of ethics because they have a very unclear and shaky idea about this
subject.
If the first type of answer that Baumhart received, is considered, it can be seen that it is a
popular belief that ethics is connected to inner feelings. If this is followed then decision
making becomes very difficult. An example can be cited here. Begging is prohibited by law
in India. But begging has been a part of the religious practice of Hinduism. It is an important
aspect of life in India. Now when a beggar comes in front of someone, should that person
give some alms to the beggar? It is a question which has to be answered by ethics only and
not by inner feelings. It is natural that when a poor beggar comes in front. Most of us would

17
be eager to share some alms with him but on doing so the laws of the land are getting
violated. Therefore, this idea that ethics is connected to inner feelings is a wrong idea.
Now if the second opinion is to be considered then it has to be agreed that ethics is connected
to religious beliefs. Here also an example from India can be cited. Sati or burning the widows
with the corpses of their husbands was a common practice by Hindus in ancient India. That
was a religious belief. It went on for centuries and then for millenniums. Ultimately it
appeared to be unethical and so was banned, thanks to the efforts of one of the greatest social
reformers in world history, Raja Rammohan Roy. He fought against the society, the
government, and the people, to ban Sati. So ethics cannot necessarily be connected to
religious beliefs.
The third type of answer said that being ethical means what the law demands. There can be so
many examples cited here to contradict this idea. During the freedom struggle of this country
when so many thousands of Bengali revolutionaries like Bagha Jatin, Ullaskar Dutta, Benoy-
Badal-Dinesh, Pritilata Waddedar, Master Da Surya Sen, Aurobindo Ghosh, Kshudiram
Bose, Prafulla Chaki fought against the British and sacrificed their lives for the freedom of
their great Motherland, they were actually going against the existing law set up by the then
British Indian government. Was it not ethical for all these great and fascinating Bengali
revolutionaries to sacrifice their lives for the greater glory of their Motherland? It was. So
going against law is not always unethical. Similarly going with law is not always ethical.
The next set of opinions suggested that ethics consists of the opinion that the human society
accepts. If one has to go with this, then it has to be said that all the innovators who introduced
something new to the world and shocked all of us, were unethical. This is because in the
beginning all of them were not accepted as they said or suggested or did something new,
something unknown for the first time. Take the example of Nicholas Copernicus. He was the
man who said and proved for the first time in the world that the sun was at the centre of the
solar system and that all the planets including the earth revolved round the sun. Initially for
saying this he was heavily criticized by the Church. It was believed that he was a criminal as
he was going against the sermons of the Church. So he was punished for his so called
„unethical behaviour‟. But later on it was proved that he was not unethical. Neither was his
behaviour worthy of a punishment. So, this incident is an example of behaviour which went
against the acceptable behavioural patterns of the society but still was actually ethical.
The last set of response was that the respondents said that they did not know what it (ethics)
meant exactly. Actually, ethics is a moral philosophy. Disciplines like morality and
philosophy are the highest disciplines of study on earth. That is why, they are not meant for

18
every common man. These are disciplines, the fragrances of which are to be understood by
the very learned sections of the society only. So it was a natural response for many
respondents to say that they did not know the meaning of the term ethics. When they said
that, they meant that they did not know the meaning of the term ethics and they did not know
its application. Thus, whether they were being ethical or not was not known to them. This is
basically a strong problem with the human civilization. Most men are unable to understand
the importance of ethics and whether they are ethical or not. So almost in all ages the history
of the human civilization was and is a fight to establish ethics. The tragedy is that this effort
to establish ethics is employed without explaining to the common masses what is ethics, how
and why it has to be established. This had invited collisions and conflicts, but relentlessly this
effort was made to establish ethics this way only. It has to be wondered and can‟t be helped
to avoid, pondering what and how the course of the human civilization would have been if
the meaning and importance of ethics would have been explained first and then an effort
would have been made to establish it. This would have ensured that common people would
have taken decisions to establish ethics. It would have been their choice and their preference
to do so. They would not have to depend on someone else‟s leadership to establish ethics.
That would have brought in changes in the dynamics of leadership, too. At the same time,
individual liberty would have to be explored and written about in a new way in the pages of
history, politics and sociology as a result of this. And, that would have indicated a sea change
in the field of social sciences. The law enforcing agencies would have to bring in alterations
in their way of operations. There would have been not much scope for them to enforce the
law by force. Administration would have been dependent on persuading more than usage of
power. Human resource management would have allowed greater exercise of persistence than
making things legal. The judicial system would have fewer burdens in their decision making.
Life would have been amazing story of taking self-decisions and being confident while taking
those self-decisions.
Unfortunately, man has failed to do so. There lies ample scope for doing it and making
implementation of ethics an independent individualistic decision, a step that is bound to
change the course of the civilization and the history of mankind, as a whole.

References:
1. https://www.dictionary.com/ (accessed on 6 August, 2020).
2. https://ethics.org.au/why-were-here/what-is-ethics/ (accessed on 6 August, 2020).

19
 Relation between Research, Publication &
Ethics
Snapshot
This chapter first establishes the relation between research and publications. Then it
establishes the relation between publication and ethics and research and ethics. It proves
why it is important to follow ethics in research and publication and how these three;
research, publication and ethics are the three pillars of a modern society. It is followed by a
discussion on the Ethics Toolkit from Elsevier (2017). It talks about the contributions of an
ethically published research towards the development of the society. Then this chapter
speaks about Kowalczuk et al. (2019), EQUATOR, Uhm (2016) and Sengupta (2017).
These writers had put emphasis on the importance of ethics in research and publication.

Research is the key towards progression of mankind in the next level. The pages of history
depict the stories of that. In between this, man committed mistakes and commits still now.
Research helps him to overcome those mistakes. There is one interesting aspect of research.
Psychology says that when a researcher is pursuing the research, her/ his mind says that the
topic, in which the research is being pursued, is the most important. This is because it is an
inherent part of human nature that humans find it difficult to discover her/ his fault. To any
person in the universe that person is the most important. This is why, sales management
students are taught to talk to the customer about the customer. They are taught to not talk to
the customer about anything else. They do not focus on the product, the organization, and the
benefits of the product or how great the product is. They just focus on the customer because
to the customer she/ he are the most important person of the world and this is inherent in
every human being. Therefore, it is easier to discover and comment on someone else‟s fault.
Own effort seems to be priceless and the best. Sometimes when a researcher is pursuing a
research on a particular topic, it becomes very difficult for that person to find out the flaws in
that research. She/ he need another person to find out those flaws. Now, any Tom, Dick or
Harry does not possess the capacity to comment on a research or find out the flaws in it. So
the concerned researcher has to go to the people who have those capacities and can also
suggest ways of overcoming the faults or filling up the deficiencies. The question that arises
in this context is that how can a researcher find out one such person or a group of such
persons. Those persons should be able to understand the seriousness of the topic of the
20
research. They should be able to understand that how if the research becomes successful, can
influence or change the world for better. There is only one way to find out such persons and
present the research in front of them.
Just as in the field of marketing management, marketing personnel would segment and target
a specific segment of the market; similarly, the concerned researcher has to go to places
where such people can be found out. The best way to find out such a person is to get the
research published and it has to be published in a research journal, not just in any newspaper
or magazine or supplementary of a daily. A research journal is usually read by people who
are directly or indirectly connected to researches. They are usually read by college or
university professors, teachers, researchers, scientists (both natural and social), research
guides and supervisors, students, research scholars, independent researchers, authors,
observers, thinkers etc. So when a research gets published in a research journal (preferably in
a journal with an ISSN) they can easily reach the targeted readers. The readers then analyse
and criticize the research. They talk about it. They review it. They think about it. They write
about it. Thus, a research when gets published in a research journal gets tested. It‟s very
important for a research to get tested before the ideas and suggestions of the research are
implemented in reality. This tells the researcher whether her/ his research is important and
necessary or not. It highlights the drawbacks of the research so that the researcher gets time
and opportunity to overcome those. Without publication of the research, the research will not
get tested. The researcher will not be able to understand where her/ his fault lies, whether that
fault needs to be overcome or not. If it does not happen, may be the researcher will produce a
research that will be faulty. That will not just waste time and energy of the researcher but for
the entire human race as a whole. Thus, publication of research helps to get it tested and save
time and energy. That saved time and energy can be invested in another research and thus, the
rate of progress of the human civilization can be maintained. Therefore, publication of a
research is necessary to maintain the pace of development of mankind. But what would
happen if wrong things are published in the name of a research. Such wrong things may
include false materials, misquoted materials or even materials which have already been
researched on. There are scrupulous and unscrupulous people in every field, everywhere in
the world, in all ages. Research is also not an exception. Papers of economics tell us that in
this age of growing consumerism, there are numerous instances when researchers have got
wrongly directed in their lives and run after short term material benefits. This has provoked
them to publish researches that are false, wrong, undesired, unwanted. Plagiarism has become
a common practice. Simultaneous submission increased by leaps and bounds. Salami slicing

21
became a common name. This is unethical. It is very important to follow the path of ethics in
a serious discipline like research and its publications. In the absence of ethics in publication,
faulty materials would get published in the name of a research. As a result of this, faulty
reviews and criticism of researches would be done by critics. Thus, faulty suggestions would
be given by them and that would ensure implementation of faulty ideas and theories. What a
danger that would be for the world? It is so painful to imagine a world where there would be
faulty solutions given to problems. The rate of advancement of the world, on which so many
thousands of generations had worked, so many men had sacrificed their lives, would be
hampered. These hard works and sacrifices would have no value. They will be forgotten in
the pages of history. They will become fruitless in just a moment. If this is allowed to thrive
that would mean the end of the world. Sometimes when we see or use something we know
the price of it, but many a times we do not know the value of it. Many of these things were
produced after millions of years of evolution. So, one faulty step can destroy everything
within a few seconds. So it is the duty of the researchers to follow the path of ethics in
research as well as in publications. Research, publication and ethics are three pillars of the
modern day society, in fact for the society in any period.
According to the Ethics Toolkit from Elsevier (2017) there are five main reasons for
publishing ethically. These are 1. It ensures scientific progress 2. It protects life and the
planet. 3. It promotes ethical behaviour 4. It is good for the reputation of the author and 5. It
is the only way.1 Truth is the foundation of science and for that matter; it is the foundation for
all disciplines of study. When researches are based on truth it ensures scientific progress.
When scientific progress is being maintained through research, then the results of such
researches are beneficial for humans and the entire planet. The theories that are developed
and implemented have the capacity to solve the problems. Thus, the benefits get showered on
every corner of this planet. It helps in the protection of life and the planet. In the process,
ethical behaviour is displayed. That motivates more people to behave ethically. Thus, it
promotes ethical behaviour. The author is liked by everyone for her/ his work. She/ he are
appreciated by everyone. The accolades follow. The rewards, the prizes and the awards
follow. That keeps the author motivated. A published paper is a permanent record of her/ his
works. It is bound to inspire the future generations, too. Thus, it is good for the reputation of
the author. A good reputation opens the door for the author for further research and
accolades. Thus, it becomes the only way for the author. The author‟s work does not
represent the author only. It also represents the research body or university where the
research was being pursued, the peers of the author who were directly or indirectly connected

22
to the research, the funding body or bodies. Thus, it opens a new door for so many. So
publishing ethically makes the research count. It contributes towards development of the
world.
Kowalczuk et al. (2019) wrote that manuscripts on all aspects of research and publication
ethics, including, but not limited to, the ethics of research designs, ethical approval, consent,
authorship and contributor ship, competing interests and all forms of research and publication
misconduct on the part of authors, reviewers and editors should never be encouraged.2
Enhancing the Quality and Transparency Of health Research (EQUATOR) follows the
principle that researchers, authors, sponsors, editors and publishers all have ethical
obligations with regard to publication and dissemination of the results of research.3 They also
believe that researchers have a duty to make publicly available the results of their research on
human subjects and are accountable for their accuracy and completeness of their reports. All
parties should adhere to accepted guidelines for ethical reporting. Negative and inconclusive
as well as positive results must be published or otherwise made publicly available. Sources of
funding, institutional affiliations and conflicts of interest must be declared in the publication.
Reports of research not in accordance with the accepted principles should only be accepted
for publication.
Uhm (2016) wrote, “Research ethics are mainly of two fields; research integrity and
publication ethics. Research misconducts can occur at both areas. Examples of the research
integrity violations are falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism; and those of the publication
ethics violations are duplicate publication including self-plagiarism, and improper authorship
…”4
Sengupta et al. (2017) commented that academic research involved many coordinated steps
and processes – appropriate study design, study execution, data collection, data analysis and
finally publication.5 The writers also wrote that while going through these steps and
culminating in a publication can be an exhilarating experience, one should be aware of ethical
code of conduct that bind a research at every possible step. The Committee on Publication
Ethics (COPE) is an international forum for editors and publishers of peer-reviewed journals
that provide the “code of conduct” and “best practice guidelines” that define publication
ethics and advises editors on how to handle cases of research and publication misconduct.
Thus, in the conclusion of the chapter it will be right to summarize the chapter this way that
research and publications becomes useful and contributes towards progress when they are
pursued ethically. Ethics is the most important raw material towards building of the society
and the civilization.

23
References:
1. https://www.elsevier.com/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/653885/Ethics-in-research-and-
publication-brochure.pdf (accessed on 10 August, 2020).
2. https://researchintegrityjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/sections/research-and-
publication-ethics (accessed on 10 August, 2020).
3. https://www.equator-network.org/library/research-ethics-publication-ethics-and-good-
practice-guidelines/ (accessed on 10 August, 2020).
4. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305034905_What_Is_Research_Misconduct
s_Publication_Ethics_Is_as_Important_as_Research_Integrity (accessed on 10
August, 2020).
5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5508450/ (accessed on 10 August,
2020)

24
 Areas of Application of Ethics in Research
Snapshot:
This chapter starts with explanation of research and principal areas of research integrity.
Then it explains the four broad steps of research and the type of unethical activity that can
be committed in each of these steps. It further aims to explain the various levels of ethical
misconduct and its examples, the magnitude of growing unethical misconduct in research
and reasons for its growth, grey areas which cannot be treated as unethical misconduct in
research. It finally ends with ways of eliminating or minimizing unethical misconduct in
research.

Research is an undertaking intended to extend knowledge through a disciplined enquiry or

scientific investigation. It may also be defined as a systematic methodological scientific
approach for basic facts around a problem to find solution based on these facts.
There are four principal areas of research integrity. Firstly, honesty has to be maintained in
all aspects of the research. Secondly, the researcher has to remember that she/ he are
accountable to many. That includes the research guide/ supervisor, the followers of the
research, the people or bodies who are expected to get benefited at the end of the research,
the government, the funding bodies, the society as a whole etc. Thirdly, the researcher has to
maintain professional courtesy. And lastly, the researcher has to act as a good steward of the
research.
A research consists of four broad steps. These are proposing, performing, reporting and
reviewing. During the proposing of the research, the unethical approach is fabrication. It is an
invention of data or cases with the intention to improve the result or removing results that
does not fit the hypothesis either by changing set up or results in an experiment, which cannot
be justified.1
During performing i.e. pursuing the research, the unethical approach followed is falsification.
It is the intentional way of destroying the data. It may also be referred as alteration of the
observed result of a research through manipulation of research (i.e. manipulation of materials,
equipment or processes), changing or omitting of data or result, so that the report is not
presented accurately.2
During reporting of the research, the unethical approach is called plagiarism. Plagiarism can
be called copying someone else‟s intellectual property such as ideas and information as own

25
achievement without mentioning actual source attribution or credit. It distorts scientific
knowledge and has unfavorable consequences for the careers of the researchers concerned.3
During reviewing the research, the unethical approach followed is known as violation of
authorship rule. Authorship indicates that right people should get the right amount of credit
for the research. Sometimes it is observed that authorship is used as a bargaining tool, when
members cannot agree on the number of authors, ghost authors, gift authors and order of
authors. There are broadly two types of authorship disagreement viz., those who do not
contravene the guidelines and those who indulge in misconduct. Examples may include the
name of a deserving junior researcher getting omitted, the name of the boss getting replaced
if she/ he is on leave, sponsoring agency insisting the inclusion of the name of a person who
never contributed and mentioning names of authors who did not contribute much to the
research. Unethical activities may be observed at any stage of research process which
includes data generation, data recording, and dissemination of scientific knowledge and
reviewing of publication.4
Unethical misconduct can be classified into different levels. Level I include fabrication,
falsification and plagiarism. Level II includes not revealing missing data, conducting
interventions on humans without informed consent and ignoring outliers without declaring
them. Level III includes publication of post hoc analysis without declaring, indulging in gift
authorship, not attributing other authors, not disclosing a conflict of interest, not attempting to
publish complete research and taking up a new research before completion of the current one
adequately.5
The magnitude of these ethical problems in research has grown to such an extent that today it
is being treated as a global problem. It is a huge problem in developing countries, particularly
in that of Asia and Africa. But that does not mean that this problem does not exist in
developed high income countries. It is observed that researches of olden times have less
ethical misconduct and it is on an increasing spree in the current period. Usually, journals
with more and more frequent publications have higher misconduct.
There are various factors that contribute towards this growing ethical misconduct in the field
of research. Academic or career pressure, publication pressure, reputation and recognition,
poor understanding and aiming of greater financial gain at a shorter period of time are
possible and probable reasons behind this. The outcomes of these are severe. Loss of earned
name and fame, loss of research grants, loss of careers, getting dismissed from the faculty,
getting blacklisted and loss of academic achievements are very common.

26
There are certain grey areas and matters where it appears that unethical research misconduct
have been committed, but a careful analysis will reveal that it has not been done.
Unconditional or ordinary error, honest difference in interpretation or judgment of data,
scholarly or political disagreement, and expression of personal or professional opinion,
private moral or ethical views and minute authorship controversy are examples of such grey
areas.
There are various ways of overcoming or minimizing the unethical misconduct in research.
These are prevention (i.e. identification and elimination or minimizing of the risk factors),
detection (i.e. monitoring or recognizing signs of fraud from time to time), correction (i.e.
investigating promptly and reporting fraud) and ensuring institutional involvement (i.e.
making and implementation of policies and procedures, training and education, providing
support and assistance, promoting professionalism and reporting periodically).6
It has been observed that plagiarism is the most important source of unethical misconduct.
There are various ways of controlling it. Usage of anti-plagiarism software can be beneficial.
Software like these searches the web for duplicate textual content to assess whether the
researcher has copied someone else‟s prose and used it in full or part without mentioning the
source. Such software or apps are available in India also. Examples are Turnitin plug
software and Urkund plug software. There are detection tolls that offer free service for this
purpose like Viper, Qutext, Edubridie, Plagiarisma, Paper Rater etc.
Therefore, from what has been written in this chapter it is clear that misconduct is unethical.
There must be zero tolerance towards it. It can be avoided.
Before pursuing the research a clear plan, ethical review system and agreement on authorship
has to be developed. During pursuing the research, the researcher must work as per the
protocol and gaining consent, protect her/ him, check periodically the authenticity of the data
acquired on the basis of which the research is being pursued etc. After pursuing the research,
the researcher must share the reports of publication ethics with the parties concerned and use
reference management software. Lastly, it is one of the ethical duties of the researcher to
remember that she/ he have to return something to the research fraternity and human society.

References:
1. http://www.webguru.neu.edu/professionalism/research-integrity/fundamental-types-
research-dilemmas/falsificationfabrication-data (accessed on 11 August, 2020).
2. https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/editors/data-fabrication-data-
falsification/4170 (accessed on 11 August, 2020).

27
3. https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidance/skills/plagiarism (accessed on 11
August, 2020).
4. http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-
the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html (accessed on 11 August, 2020).
5. https://ori.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/report_commission.pdf (accessed on 11 August,
2020).
6. https://ankura.com/insights/strategies-for-preventing-research-misconduct/ (accessed
on 11 August, 2020).

28
 Areas of Application of Ethics in
Publication
Snapshot:
This chapter commences with the new dimensions in the field of publications. It highlights
the importance and growing popularity of online publications. Then the ethical
responsibilities of the authors, reviewers and journal editors have been prominently
emphasized.

In this era, usage of information technology and computers has created new dimensions in
publication. Printing has been taken over by online publishing. Researchers publish their
research knowledge and findings online in the form of manuscripts which is shared with
readers and followers. This is called electronic publishing or e-publishing or digital
publishing. It includes publication of e-books, electronic articles which are available online
over internet or other networks. These writings can be accessed from all geographical
locations. It reduces the use of paper and this means maintaining the trees, which are usually
cut-off and turned into papers.
The different types of publications produced by researchers include original research articles,
review articles, short reports or letters, case studies and methodologies. Editors and
publishers of peer-reviewed journals where such writings get published, provide the “code of
conduct” and “best practice guidelines” that handles publication misconduct. It is defined as
publication ethics. It advises authors on how to avoid publication misconducts and editors on
how to handle cases of research and publication misconduct. In this age of global nepotism
and corruption, publication ethics has become a very important discipline. There are different
types of problems that have given rise to publication ethics. Some of these problems are non-
approval, consent and data confidentiality, data manipulation and research fraud, plagiarism,
simultaneous submission, self-citation, duplicate citation and conflicts of interest.
Publication ethics provides us with clear guidelines on submission of the work. It tells us
about what type of content is or is not acceptable for publication. We can issue guidelines on
what constitutes authorship and how proposed changes to authorship are handled. Publication
ethics gives us a clear description of the peer reviewed process. It guides on inclusion of the
necessary ethical statements, if required. Publication ethics help in constituting good
scientific practice, related to the quest for accurate, adequate and relevant knowledge. These
29
are norms that regulate the research community by ensuring integrity, accountability,
impartiality, criticism etc. It develops decent relationship with the people who take part in the
research by ensuring respect, human dignity, confidentiality, free and informed consent etc.

Ethics for Authors:

There are different types of problems that have given rise to publication ethics. Some of these
are authorship and order, approval, consent and data confidentiality, data manipulation and
research fraud, plagiarism, simultaneous submission, self-citation, duplicate publication and
conflicts of interest.
Authorship deals with who should be treated as an author. The person designated as author/s
should qualify for authorship. That person should have contributed substantially to the
concept and design of the publication. She/ he are the one who is going to draft the
publication by taking care of the critically important content. Guest authorship is given to
those who do not meet accepted authorship criteria but are listed because of their seniority,
reputation or supposed influence. Gift authorship is given to those who do not meet accepted
authorship criteria but are listed as an author to give personal favor or in return for payment.
Ghost authorship is for those who meet authorship criteria but are not listed. When multiple
authors collaborate to write a research publication, the task of determining authorship order
inevitably arises. The order of authors is decided by the authors themselves. The first author
has normally contributed most to the publication. Contribution volume wise and seniority
wise order may be specified with mutual consent. The authors have responsibility. They
should submit the papers and rectify areas or the whole paper as suggested by the editor of
the journal where the paper/s gets published.
Obtaining informed consent from all the study participants is critical and should not be
trivialized by the authors and which must be adopted by all the researchers. The consent
forms must commit on protection of participants‟ personal identity and other confidential data
(for example socio-economic status, earnings per month etc.). In addition, the consent forms
must include the rights of the participants clearly in a language understandable by them. The
editorial board of journals may ask for documented proof of the consent from the researchers.
Publication fraud refers to publications that report results and draw conclusions from data
that are not generated by the study (fabrication) or are generated by manipulating the data
(falsification). These offences are also applicable to images that are modified to conceal the
truth. It is relatively simple for experienced reviewers and editors to decipher whether the
authors indulged in publication fraud by looking at the statistics, tables, P values, odds ratios

30
etc. Fabrication and falsification are extremely serious forms of publication misconduct. If
editors or reviewers are suspicious at the time review process, they may ask the authors to
disclose the raw datasheets to confirm or alleviate the suspicion.
The use of previously published work by another author, in one‟s own manuscript without
consent, credit or acknowledgement and frequently passing it as one‟s own work is referred
to as plagiarism. This is the most common form of scientific misconduct in manuscript
writing. Authors must remember that crediting previous authors for their work is vital in
providing context to their own research. Journals often use plagiarism-checking software that
assists editors in identifying plagiarists. Journals provide clear guidelines on the processes to
be followed to tackle plagiarism.
Submitting a manuscript to multiple journals at the same time is termed as simultaneous
submission. At the time of manuscript submission, most journals obtain a declaration from
the authors that the manuscript is original and is not being considered for publication by any
other journal. Declaring as such and then disregarding this process leads to submission to
another journal where the chances of success are perceived to be better by authors. This could
lead to publication of the same manuscript by two different journals. As this type of
misconduct occurs at the discretion of the author alone, the onus is on the author to submit to
one journal and wait for a decision submitting to another journal.
Duplicate publication is the republication of the same findings and this is also considered as a
severe unethical misconduct. Sometimes submitting the same manuscript in two journals is
also referred as duplicate publication. Dividing one research project into many small papers is
called salami slicing.1 This is also an example of unethical misconduct. In a more explanatory
form, submitting a new manuscript containing the same hypothesis, data, discussion points
and/ or conclusions as a previously published manuscript is called a duplicate publication.
This is similar to plagiarism. It is a major punishable offence with the identical data set,
findings, and/ or evidence that authors have sought to hide redundancy. For example, by
changing the name or author order or not referring to previous papers.
Authors should not engage in excessive self-citation of their own work. Citing one's own
published work in subsequent papers that are out of context to the research being reported is
referred to as self-citation. For experienced researchers, the number of times a paper is cited
sometimes matters more than actually publishing it. This is perceived as unethical by most of
the publication community and looked down upon by peers. However, sometimes, authors
may have published a large amount of literature in their field and the subsequent paper is a
continuation of previous papers, making self-citations inevitable. Authors should not copy

31
references from other publications if they have not read the cited work. Authors should not
preferentially cite their own or their friends‟, peers‟, or institution‟s publications. Authors
should not cite advertisements or advertorial material.2
Conflicts of interest, also called as competing interests, are defined as financial, personal,
social or other interests that directly or indirectly influence the conduct of the author with
respect to the particular manuscript. Having competing interests in a product or device under
consideration is not considered unethical, however, failure to disclose such hidden interests
severely jeopardize the outcomes reported in the paper. Once disclosed, it is the discretion of
the readers to determine the influence of the conflicts of interest on the conclusions of the
paper. Failure of the faculty member/ researcher to fulfill university responsibilities (e.g.,
holding classes, advising students, conducting research etc.), involvement in external projects
is example of conflict of interests. Using university resources to conduct research that is
sponsored by an outside agency in which the faculty member/researcher or his/her family
member has a significant financial interest can also be treated as the same. Hiring university
students free of cost in consulting activities or a company in which the faculty
member/researcher has financial interests, will also be considered as conflict of interest.3
Authors should reveal all the equipment, funding resources and other aids employed in the
research. Role of funding agencies or external supports in performing the research should be
clearly mentioned in the publication. Author is supposed to ensure that the source of funding
is revealed in publication and should obey journal and institutional regulations and specify all
the conflicts of interest.

Ethics for Reviewers:

Potential Conflict of Interests
Reviewers need to inform the journal editor if they hold a conflict of interest that may
prejudice the review report, either in a positive or negative way. In maximum cases, Editors
check as far as possible before invitation. Unpublished data contained in the manuscript must
not be used by reviewers in their own.
Confidentiality and Anonymity
Reviewers must keep the content of the manuscript, including the abstract, confidential. They
must inform if they would like a colleague to complete the review on their behalf.
Reviewers should be careful not to reveal their identity to the authors, either in their
comments or in reports submitted in Microsoft Word or PDF format.
Timely Review
32
If the Reviewer feels that due to some reasons timely submission of report is not possible
then she/ he should immediately inform the Editor of the Journal.4

Ethics for Journal Editors:

Neutrality
The intellectual content of submitted manuscripts is evaluated regardless of race, gender
orientation, age, disability, religion, ethnicity and political philosophy of the authors.
Confidentiality
All manuscripts should be treated as confidential documents.
Disclosure of information and conflicts of interest
Unpublished data contained in the submitted manuscript must not be used by editors in their
own research.
Decision on publication
The editor of the Journal decides on the publication of submitted articles. The editor is guided
by the Editorial Committee‟s policy, taking into account the legal obligations regarding
defamation, copyrights and plagiarism. The editor may share the decision with other
members of the Editorial Board or with reviewers.5

References:
1. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/salami-slicing (accessed on 16
August, 2020).
2. https://www.latrobe.edu.au/research/red/academic-integrity-for-researchers-and-
ithenticate/self-citation-and-self-plagiarism (accessed on 16 August, 2020).
3. https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/authors/preparing_your_manuscript/conflict
s_of_interest (accessed on 16 August, 2020).
4. https://www.aje.com/arc/ethics-peer-review/ (accessed on 16 August, 2020).
5. https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/editors/publishing-ethics-for-
journals/4176 (accessed on 16 August, 2020).

33
 Difficulties in Following Ethics in Research
and Publication
Snapshot:
This chapter discusses about the reasons for the growing misuse and non-use of ethics in
research and publication. It also suggests some ways to overcome them. It is the only chapter
in the book which is to a huge extent autobiographical. The writers had written this chapter
by depending on their personal experiences with ethics.

This is a book on ethics in research and publications. In the earlier chapters the meaning of
the terms „research‟, „publication‟ and „ethics‟ have been explained. Along with that the
various areas of application of ethics in research and publications have also been prominently
pointed out. But there is one more area where light have to be thrown in order to make this
effort complete. It is important to spare a thought behind the fact that why is it that despite
the growing importance of ethics in research and publication, there are also growing number
of instances when ethics is avoided. There must be some reasons behind that and those
reasons have to be addressed.
Most of the time what happens is that we treat ethics or following of ethics as an investment.
When an investor invests, she/ he want a return. So followers of ethics, in most cases, want a
return. We forget that many a times an investment may not pay a return directly. The return
may be indirect. So after following ethics, when there is no return or an indirect return we
tend to feel less motivated to follow ethics.
Returns may not also be in measurable forms. At times they may be in invisible and
immeasurable form. When a person follows ethics in research and publication, maybe there is
no significantly visible or measureable return. But the smoothness of the operations that is
achieved by that person is actually the return. The absence of problems is actually the returns
for her/ him.
It is true that when ethics is followed and it does not reap a visible result, it becomes very
challenging for the concerned person to maintain her/ his faith in the path of ethics. Under the
circumstances, that person may be advised to follow some of the basic principles of life. She/
he have to be extremely patient. Bhagwad Gita, the holy book of the Hindus, tells us about
minimizing or reducing expectations. If that can be done, even if not fully and in a minute
quantity, then also the problem can be overcome. The researchers and authors have to be told
34
to enjoy what they are doing. They will have to do even the smallest and least important tasks
with great joy. These are the ways of reducing expectations. They will have to believe in the
greater glory of what they are doing. That will help them to shift focus from the immediate
benefits that may be defocusing them. There are people in the human society who are
thinking and contributing towards the building and sustenance of the society. Then there are
people who are trying to build their lives and contribute towards that. The first type of people,
who are doing it for greater good of mankind as a whole, should never think of their
immediate benefits. They should follow ethics because their lives very often become imitable
by the second lot. It really does not matter what few individuals or the society thinks about
them. Great minds have always faced violent opposition from the mediocre minds. Socrates
faced it. Copernicus faced it. Galileo faced it. Plato faced it. This is what has been
experienced in the human history for millenniums and the world will probably continue to do
so.
People blame consumerism, talk of increasing greed and discuss about lack of opportunities
for excessive usage of unethical misconduct in research and publication. But these were
always there. The difference has been created by the changed psychologies. In today‟s fast
paced world, we are looking for immediate benefits which are rare. The legendary American
boxer, Mohammed Ali, once said about himself that he became an overnight sensation after
twenty years of hard work. And, that probably sums up the essence of life in the modern era.
Most of the time what is shown, what is told, what is depicted and what is narrated is only a
part of the story. The years of hard work, grit, struggle, sweats and tears remain hidden in the
blankets of time. Thus, people expect everything to be quick, which is untrue. This forces
them to choose the unethical path. They think that an unethical path is going to be a shorter
route towards their destination. Most of the times, the so called shorter route becomes the
longest route. It is easier to be ethical. It requires less talent to be ethical.
Ethics is and will always be the ultimate way of life. A moral philosophy that has shaped the
destiny of man from times beyond the memory of man cannot be forgotten, misunderstood,
misinterpreted and neglected. It is and will always be.

For any suggestions or queries, the authors can be contacted at

Dr. Aamarpali Roy
(M): 9051220005
E-Mail ID: [email protected]

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 Dr. Aamarpali Roy
Dr. Roy is a doctorate in Applied Chemical Sciences & Technology from Guru Nanak Dev
University, Amritsar, Punjab, India in August 2006. She has more than 30 international
publications to her name. She is the chief editor of four international journals and managing
an online educational portal. She has worked across the length and breadth of India in
domains like teaching, research, education, coordination and development.

Dr. Laxmi Rana

Dr. Rana is a doctorate in the faculty of Nursing Sciences, from Mangalore University, in
August 1996. She is a trained nurse, who worked in various positions such as a clinical nurse,
nursing educator and research consultant, since 1975. She has guided many Master‟s and
Ph.D. scholars in the field of nursing. She has many publications both in national and
international journals to her credit. She has been awarded for her meritorious services as a
nursing educator.

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